Do you believe in God ?

[Alnitak]

Science by definition is something provable...

Precisely my point.

And by the way I'm an atheist.

 

[vidarr]

Ok, I'll take your word for it.

But to make another point, if there were a God. He would have the power to make something unknowable.
So we could imagine a world where somehow the laws of physics allow us all to be alive, yet they all change so rapidly that we could never do any experiments, even thought experiments of how they work.

 

[Alnitak]

Ok, I'll take your word for it.

But to make another point, if there were a God. He would have the power to make something unknowable.
So we could imagine a world where somehow the laws of physics allow us all to be alive, yet they all change so rapidly that we could never do any experiments, even thought experiments of how they work.

You mean to make an argument for agnosticism? Fair enough.

I make the argument that it doesn't matter to justify my atheism. First imagine the world before we existed and the Universe was unaware of itself. Did it really matter whether there was a scientific or religious explanation? So here we are. Did the fact of our existence change the fact that the Universe is almost completely scientific as far as we know? Of course not. It is of no consequence.

 

[windsors]

Telstra,

Have you ever walked on a frozen pond, lake?

 

[Telstra]

Telstra,

Have you ever walked on a frozen pond, lake?

No, why the question

 

[zoltanspawn]

Beliefs inform actions, which makes them matter a great deal. Since beliefs inform actions, I wish everyone's beliefs to be most representative of the reality in which we all exist in.

Beliefs inform actions, but so do fantasies. In some cases, the study of an action may be best illuminated by entirely false information. In some cases, true information should not inform the study of an action. If we're talking about what we ought to do, 'the reality in which we all exist' is sometimes helpful, and sometimes not.

In the end I agree with you, though, with this addition: whether a belief conforms to reality or not, it's worth talking about. Our actions, quite naturally, invite a broad field of conversation.

 

[jbrown329]

I'm an Atheist. My friend is Christian. She knows that I'm an Atheist. We've had many discussions through the years about religion. Especially about the religious right. She told me that she prays for me. That's OK, I don't have a problem with it. When she says grace (Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas dinners), I bow my head in respect for her.

She does not push her belief on me. I don't scorn her for her belief. I have never taken the Lord's name in vain in front of her. Again, because I respect her.

When it comes to religion (especially online) what goes through my mind is 'what would she say and what would be her reaction?'. I've told her that. I've relayed situations that I've been in online. And I've told her my responses. 95 out of 100 times, she and I agree.

Most of the time I have no problem with Liberal or Centrist Christians. I always have a problem with Conservative Christians.

 

[kallipolis]

I always have a problem with Conservative Christians.

Challenges enter ones life with, and without labels. The label is never the problem, until we make it so.

 

[vidarr]

Challenges enter ones life with, and without labels. The label is never the problem, until we make it so.

The label in this case are stubborn people. Never mind people who can't examine their faith, it's those who can't accept that others could POSSIBLY disagree with it.

 

[jbrown329]

Challenges enter ones life with, and without labels. The label is never the problem, until we make it so.

Let me relay a conversation I had with my friend. She is Christian, both her parents were ordained. She calls herself a "flaming Liberal".

I told her one day that she and the religious right pray to different gods. She said "there's only one God". Yes, I told her. But yours' is a loving and forgiving God. There's is one of hatred, vengeance, greed, war and other assorted ills. I told her that imho, the religious right opened the Bible between Old and New. Then ripped it in half and threw the New into the garbage. Gone is Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Basically, ALL of Jesus and his teachings are not part of their Bibles.

She stood there for a moment, shook her head, sighed and then reluctantly agreed with me.

Another thing she said to me, that the religious right act like "once in grace, always in grace". Which she informed me was not the way it works.

 

[kallipolis]

The label in this case are stubborn people. Never mind people who can't examine their faith, it's those who can't accept that others could POSSIBLY disagree with it.

Lots of examples flow across these forums.

 

[kallipolis]

Let me relay a conversation I had with my friend. She is Christian, both her parents were ordained. She calls herself a "flaming Liberal".

I told her one day that she and the religious right pray to different gods. She said "there's only one God". Yes, I told her. But yours' is a loving and forgiving God. There's is one of hatred, vengeance, greed, war and other assorted ills. I told her that imho, the religious right opened the Bible between Old and New. Then ripped it in half and threw the New into the garbage. Gone is Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Basically, ALL of Jesus and his teachings are not part of their Bibles.

She stood there for a moment, shook her head, sighed and then reluctantly agreed with me.

Another thing she said to me, that the religious right act like "once in grace, always in grace". Which she informed me was not the way it works.

People become prisoners of their own specially constructed cells, reflecting their perceived need to judge others unworthy.

Self sacrifice to serve the needs of others, is never the result of self service.

Love never seeks its own reward, preferring to love those who need loving.

I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers. ¬Khalil Gibran

 

[Jeffs0418]

Nope...because Deities and Demons and Heaven or Hell make about as much sense as Santa Clause, The Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy.

 

[TX-Beau]

Nope...because Deities and Demons and Heaven or Hell make about as much sense as Santa Clause, The Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy.

I bet that pole in your avatar could inspire a religious experience.

 

[Benvolio]

Nope...because Deities and Demons and Heaven or Hell make about as much sense as Santa Clause, The Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy.

Advanced physicists like Einstein and Hawking have suggested the existence of parallel and alternative universes and that time is another dimension such that the in some sense the past and future coexist with the present. Have you considered the possibility that ghosts, demons and such are an overlap or some such thing from another existence? Some claims of ghost sightings seem to be a glimpse of something from the past.

 

[jbrown329]

There is so much that we still don't know. Saw a program on PBS about string theory. It was very interesting.

 

[TX-Beau]

Advanced physicists like Einstein and Hawking have suggested the existence of parallel and alternative universes and that time is another dimension such that the in some sense the past and future coexist with the present. Have you considered the possibility that ghosts, demons and such are an overlap or some such thing from another existence? Some claims of ghost sightings seem to be a glimpse of something from the past.

Advanced Physicists like Einstein did not suggest the existence of parallel universes and advanced Advanced Physicists like Hawking who also didn't propose it, certainly have never said anywhere I've ever read that such is the origin of ghosts and demons and things from the past.

 

[Alnitak]

Advanced physicists like Einstein and Hawking have suggested the existence of parallel and alternative universes and that time is another dimension such that the in some sense the past and future coexist with the present. Have you considered the possibility that ghosts, demons and such are an overlap or some such thing from another existence? Some claims of ghost sightings seem to be a glimpse of something from the past.

It was Poincare who suggested that the Universe will eventually reorder itself given enough time. The actual number has only recently been figured out, about 10^googolplex, which is an inconceivably huge number.

So if you lived long enough you would see the Universe reorder itself infinite times and there would be weird versions of yourself, and fantasies where you are married to the hottest man on Earth, but not the laws of physics themselves. It also messes with the concept of past and future and the law of entropy.

The idea of multiverses is similar but a modern idea.

 

[heytheree]

I'm Muslim by identity, but atheist agnostic by heart. I was confused about my faith throughout my teenage years, but now at least I know about my own religious identity. I think that whether God exist or not might be dependent on what you define as God itself.

I don't believe God exists, if the definition of God is based on the religions that exist now (more or less an all-powerful sentient being that is kind of narcissistic by human standards)

But I believe in God on a more loose term. A 'matter' that encompasses the universe. I mean, by this definition, God may well be just a particle of sorts that doesn't even have a consciousness. I'm not very knowledgeable in this area so I can only guess. When I say I 'believe', I don't mean I have utmost faith like religious people do. It goes more in line with 'it's more probable that God exist than not'. Again, it's based on the definition. I know, this might not make a sense to other people

 

[lambdaboy]

The only thing in our solar system or any where in the universe that cn be considered like a god Is the Sun that keeps us alive period.